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 Visitors
board the Hearst Castle bus at the Visitor Center
as they begin their journey for the five mile trip
to the top of the hill. The view out of the window
shows the natural beauty that attracted William Randolph
Hearst to this spectacular location.
 Much
of the wildlife seen while traveling the bus route
is considered indigenous to California, including
the coyote, bobcat, cotton-tailed rabbit, white-tailed
deer, quail, turkey vulture, mountain lion, red-tailed
hawk, kestrel hawk, burrowing owl, and other native
species. Some exotic species, many of which are descendants
of the animals once in Hearst's zoo, may roam close
enough to the road to be seen from the bus. These
include: zebra, Roosevelt elk, aoudads, tahr goats,
sambar deer, and wild pigs.
 Wooden
animal shelters constructed in the late 1920s to protect
the animals still stand near the bus route, though
today they are used primarily by cattle on the Hearst
Ranch. The empty animal pens, once the home of polar
bears and lions, built in 1934 can be seen during
the return trip to the Visitor Center.
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